8.03.2011

It's late, I've had a crummy day, I can't sleep, and I am long overdue on a new blog post. These past few weeks have gone by in a whirlwind. It was really hot for awhile and it made me so cranky and lethargic I accomplished almost nothing for an entire week. We've gone swimming A LOT (little Milly has some crazy tan lines to prove it), and we've spent plenty of time outside. I've also noticed that these hot humid summers are the perfect conditions for lots and lots of bugs. Ugh, It's really gross sometimes.

Henry saw his first ever backyard fireworks. They are illegal here in NY. But we found some in a grocery store in Pennsylvania a few months back and we were saving them for a special occasion. Nothing fancy, just the black snakes, a little fountain, poppers, and some sparklers. Here is Henry and a few friends with their first ever sparklers...and soon thereafter Henry's first ever sparkler burn. You would have thought his finger was going to fall off he cried for so long-like 3 hours long. I guess burns really do hurt, even if they are the size of an ant.We went to Beaver Island with some friends from our ward this past Saturday. The water was pretty darn dirty. These little boys that Henry is with are from Gabon. They moved to Buffalo not long ago and into our ward here. They had NEVER been swimming before. It was wonderful to watch them be so excited. Their mom was equally amazed.Henry and Milly are such water babies! Especially Milly who currently loves being completely submerged and dunked in the water. I don't think their swimming suits will ever be clean again after this little adventure in the mud. I even soaked them in oxyclean for a day and they are still dingy and brownish.We went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant again too. It's become a wonderful summer tradition here in Western New York. I'm going to miss it when we leave. Henry looks incredibly cute in this picture, and while he really is wonderful and pretty darn adorable, he has also been giving me all sorts of trouble lately. I don't quite know what to do with the kid. Lots of yelling, very little sharing, aggression, etc. Any advice out there? I know that 3 year old little boys aren't always the most cooperative or rational, but Henry is a little more out of hand than his friends. Unfortunately, I think I know where his aggressive nature comes from, and it certainly isn't his father, but I need to find a way to curtail it. Any good books out there? Any advice? I just feel so frustrated with him sometimes.

Taylor and I have also gone on some fun dates these past few weeks, unfortunately many of which have been getting together with friends who are leaving Buffalo. Some of our favorite people have moved away this summer...we'll miss you Majeronis and Hopkins! This picture is a concert we went to with friends. We went and saw Court Yard Hounds (it's the new break off band from the Dixie Chicks...2/3 of them.) and while they weren't quite as good as the Dixie Chicks, we had a fantastic evening with friends and no children!We even got to meet the two sisters after the show. They were nice as can be.